An August Day in Brooklyn

Last week I was on the East Coast for a few days, some shopping, some adventure, some business and trying new kosher restaurants.  Monday was a rare August day with lower humidity and clear blue skys.  My sister and I hopped in her trusty SUV and headed out from her home at the Jersey Shore across Staten Island into Brooklyn.

Brooklyn is a fabulous haven for ethnic kosher restaurants, markets and butcher shops.  First stop, I & D Glatt butcher to place an order for a large fresh kosher Turkey.  Incidentally, they just happen to deliver to parts of the Jersey Shore door to door in the summer.  What an amazing kosher butcher, they have a website, stock all manner of Sephardic, especially Syrian meat pastry and stuffed vegetables,  and have a beautiful fresh meat counter.  I & D Glatt  takes on line orders and ships.

Next, my sister and I picked up a friend and drove to lunch.  It is hair raising experience to watch my sister navigate the congested streets of Brooklyn, with all of the one way streets, no turns here signs, and train tracks bisecting the way.  For lunch we settled on an Israeli Salad Cafe.  Sunflower Cafe is on the corner of Kings Highway and East 13th and you can sit in or outside, weather permitting.  My salad came fresh, crisp, and with a generous amount of avocado on top.  I ordered a blended mint lemonade made with fresh lemon juice and fresh mint leaves.  I think it was so good that I will make it at home.  A 5 yummies casual cafe.

After some serious shopping at Pomegranate Market, who says you can’t buy kosher Wagyu filet mignon, we drove to a different section of Brooklyn to visit with the owner at Mansoura chocolate and pastry shop.  Mansoura has been in business in Brooklyn since 1961 and the baklava, raha (apricot pistachio roll), lokum (Turkish Delight), chocolate covered nuts and marzipan they bake and make are unrivaled.  They ship as well.

One block up from Mansoura is Holon Market a pan Sephardic-Israeli food store.  Holon stocks and incredible selection of kosher cheeses, spices, cookies like sweet kak, and nut or date stuffed mamoul (cookies).  In our treasure hunt we found kosher Kasseri cheese, and kosher Asiago.

The day was winding down and it was time to drive back to the Jersey Shore and prepare dinner.  A dinner of grilled rib steaks, grilled corn on the cob, shitake mushrooms, grilled Sicilian eggplant, and red peppers, all served with a wild arugula salad and crusty bread was very satisfying.  We sat out on the  veranda with watermelon and biscotti and chatted for a while as the evening cooled off and crickets chirped.